Former Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) worker, Saulat Mirza’s execution now has been extended for 30 days. Initially it was for 72 hours.
Earlier, authorities had delayed by three days the hanging of the political activist convicted of a triple homicide, as a video of him emerged claiming his party chief had ordered him to carry out killings.
Moreover, the government has decided to form a Joint Investigation Team comprising members of superior judiciary, law enforcement, and intelligence agencies.
He was due to be hanged early morning today but a stay was ordered, just as a video was circulated showing Mirza making striking allegations against the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) — the main party in Pakistan’s violent economic hub of Karachi, of which he was an activist.
Mirza claimed Hussain had ordered him to carry out the murder for which he was sentenced to hang. “Altaf Hussain directed us through Babar Ghauri (a senior party leader) that the KESC (Karachi Electric Supply Company) MD has to be killed,” Mirza said in the video, which was leaked to dozens of news channels.
It was not clear who shot or leaked the video, and the ”official reason given for the stay of execution was was Mirza’s supposed “ill health”.
“We requested the prime minister and on his advice the president put his execution on hold for 72 hours because of health concerns,” Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told lawmakers in parliament Thursday.
The MQM supreme Altaf Hussain strongly denied Mirza’s allegations, in comments broadcast by all major TV channels.
“I never gave any such orders to anyone and I do not even know Saulat Mirza,” Hussain said. “It is an attempt to malign the party and the part of the ongoing media trial of my party.” Ghauri, the senior MQM leader, also denied the allegations.
 worker, Saulat Mirza's execution now has been extended for 30 days. Initially it was for 72 hours.){kind=link}